Family Picnic
by rowanred81
Summary: Sequel to Time Exposure. Multi-installment story of the Price-Caulfields on a Sunday. Ellie wants to go on a picnic while Chloe reminisces on the start of their road trip after escaping Arcadia Bay. Max makes a compromise. Family fluff with some angst and drama thrown in because you know how I roll. :)
1. Chapter 1

**"Tomorrow" by Daughter**

Max enjoyed Sundays, though not for the reason Kate wished she did. Unlike her friend, Max looked forward to them because she could wake up late, not venture into her studio space, scoop up her daughter, and just lay in bed with Ellie and Chloe until Chloe _finally woke up._

Today was one such day, but when Max woke up she found Eloise sitting between her and a still-sleeping Chloe. Smiling groggily at her daughter, Max opened her arms wide and Eloise fell into the waiting hug.

"Shhh, baby," Max said, stroking her daughter's ever-growing green hair, "Momma's still sleepin'."

"B-But you _promised_...," Eloise Price-Caulfield said in a petulant tone, huffing and sticking out her bottom lip in a pout that reminded Max of herself at Ellie's age, "Picnic."

"Ellie..."

" _Picnic!"_ Ellie cried out, Max wincing as her daughter's mouth was a little too close to her ear only to snort when Chloe was instantly sitting up with her eyes half-open.

"Whuzzit...?" Chloe asked before flopping back into the bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes until she turned onto her side and saw the other occupants in the bed, "Hey, pipsqueak. Scooch on over so momma can give mommy a good morning kiss."

" _Ewww_!" Eloise cried out, Max wincing again and releasing her grip on the squirming little girl as she ran out of the bedroom, repeatedly saying "Pic-a-nic" in a sing-song manner.

"I swear," Max said, leaning into Chloe's waiting arms with a kiss, "I carried her but she's more you than me sometimes."

"Oh no, she's _both_ of us," Chloe said with a smirk, "You hardly see her at school. She's so shy and she actually has a little outfit that reminds me of you at Blackwell."

"No fucking way," Max smiled, playfully slapping Chloe's shoulder before leaning in for another kiss.

"Dude, she has a little grey hoodie, Chuck Taylors, and a pink tank-top. She is literally a pint-sized, green-haired version of you at 18."

"Wowser...," Max said, looking over at Chloe with a blushing face when her wife busted up laughing, "Oh, what _ever_."

"You haven't said that in _years_. One mention of shy, cliche, and geek is all it takes to bring out the "Wowser". I suppose you'll want cereal for breakfast...?" Chloe teased, shrieking when Max replied by running her cold feet up the back of Chloe's legs, "Agh! Fucker!"

"Momma said a bad thing!" Ellie said from her bedroom.

"Sorry!" Max and Chloe said in unison, looking at each other before leaning their foreheads against each other's.

"Hey," Max said, tilting her head up to kiss Chloe on the forehead, "Good morning."

"Mmm, it _is_ a good morning, innit?" Chloe asked, wrapping her arms around Max's shoulders, "I get you and the pipsqueak all to myself today?"

"You do."

"No photography work?"

"Nope."

"Ellie? Did you finish your schoolwork?" Chloe shouted.

" _Picnic_!" Ellie shouted back, the delight in her voice causing Max to smile as she nuzzled the crook of Chloe's neck.

"I guess _that_ answers that," Chloe said with a smile, "Wait. What did she say 'picnic' for?"

* * *

Max sat in her comfy chair in the living room, sipping at her steaming coffee, while Ellie and Chloe played a game of Hawt Dawg Man on the retro game system Max had found at the local Goodwill. Able to play the cartridge games from both Nintendo and Sega, Max had scooped up nearly every game she remembered her and Chloe playing and luckily only had to pay 40 bucks for what had cost their parents a _lot_ more when the games were new.

Smiling, Max watched as Chloe let Ellie win for the third time and the scowl Ellie gave her momma as she quickly realized Chloe was letting her off easy.

"You should _really_ play her," Max said, both Ellie and Chloe looking back at her. _God, she's got your crazy hair and my freckles._ _It_ _'_ _s like you willed your way into my womb, Chloe_ , Max thought with a smirk as Chloe quirked an eyebrow.

"That right? I don't think-"

"I was talking to Ellie," Max teased, winking at her daughter to the response of Ellie giggling.

"Wait," Chloe said, looking over at her daughter, "You little lime, you've been going easy on _me_? Dude, I am the video game master!"

"Mommy said she beat you at _Battletoads_ ," Ellie countered, sticking out her tongue.

"Mommy...," Chloe looked at Max over her shoulder with a grumble, "Thanks for showboating, Max."

"I learned from the master. I thought you liked it when I get all bossy, and I _am_ the boss at _Battletoads_."

"Ellie, cover your ears," Chloe said, waiting until Ellie had her hands clamped down tightly, "Max, eat several dicks and top it off with a shit sundae."

Max stuck her tongue out at Chloe and flipped her off, both women laughing. Ellie removed her hands from her head at the sound of laughter and began another game.

" _Oh_?" Chloe asked, her voice challenging, "Shall we see who the real master is between us, young padawan?"

"Ye!" Ellie cried out, her voice giving away her concentration as she focused intently on the video game.

"...Mommy tells me you want to go on a picnic," Chloe said after a couple more games, a surprised grin on her face at how ferocious her little lime was, "That true? You don't wanna play games with your momma anymore?"

" _Picnic_!" Ellie cheered, arms raised over her head with a toothy grin. Seeing the space where a tooth had been until recently had Chloe biting her lip over how cute the little girl was and she scooped Ellie up and lifted her into the air, "Ahhh, Momma! Momma, don't drop me!"

Hearing Max laugh from her chair, Chloe stuck her tongue out and began to tickle Eloise while holding her in mid-air, a smile on her face as the girl squirmed and thrashed. _This is what_ I _want_ , Chloe thought to herself as she sat Ellie down and stood up, _A chance to just chill with my family. Aside from the occasional day off either Max is hella busy or I am. Sundays are lazy days, Maxaroni, so why the fuck do you want a picnic?_ Crying out in alarm as the room suddenly went dark, Chloe heard Ellie giggle and realized someone had pulled her beanie down to cover her eyes while she was lost in thought.

"Okay. Wanna play rough, eh? Prepare to get pounced on…," Chloe said, pulling up the beanie to see Max sitting cross-legged right in front of her, a mischievous grin on her face, "My wife betrays me. I am hella disappoint."

"You'll live," Max said, leaning over to kiss her wife. Chloe felt the softness of Max's lips and heard Ellie run into her bedroom, an audible "Gross!" causing both women to giggle between the first couple kisses. Pushed back onto the floor, Chloe felt Max slide onto her waist and looked up to see Max leaning over her. Their faces inches apart, Max smiled and buried her face in the crook of her wife's neck. "Don't be a lazy-ass, Chlo. She wants to have a picnic with her parents."

"Yeah, but-"

"But _what_?" Max asked, the serious look on her face making Chloe involuntarily shiver, "You'd deny our daughter? _Our daughter_?"

"Not a chance…," Chloe said, pausing to try and get her words right, "I… I just wanted to spend the day with _only_ us. Order pizza, watch some movies, and chill. You're super-busy and I'm working two jobs; Ellie only sees both of us together in the mornings and on Sundays, Max. I… I just… I miss you, okay?"

"Chloe…," Max's voice softened as she cupped her wife's cheek, leaning down to kiss her, "I miss you, too. I know we don't get as much time as we used to, but when I'm done with this next-"

"You'll just start another project, Max. You always do," Chloe said, sitting up enough that Max had to slide off her and take a spot alongside, "I'm not complaining. I want you to get your dream. It's just that _we_ are part of that dream, too, the three of us together. I miss my best friend, my wife, the woman I used to tease because she couldn't manage to swallow even a sip of wine…"

" _Ugh_ , you bring that up?" Max asked with a snort, running a hand through Chloe's hair to playfully mess it up, "I miss you too, y'know, the woman who got me into all sorts of bullshit trouble when we were kids. I miss the 'Che' to my 'Maxaroni'."

"Dude, we're not even old yet and we act like our relationship is ancient sometimes," Chloe said, nudging Max's shoulder, "I'd like it if Ellie didn't see her parents age years in weeks, if she saw us how we were before _all this_."

Gesturing at the apartment, Chloe took in everything that had changed over the past ten years. Odd job after odd job, she'd struggled for a bit to find something that paid well enough while Max attended college. Chloe had tried college as well, but with everything that had happened she didn't have the heart and was more interested in expressing herself through art. Body art, namely; learning from store artists and guests in various tattoo parlors around Seattle, Chloe had amassed enough knowledge to get hired shortly after getting her license and safety certifications. The bartending job she had was nice, the cash and environment a near-perfect blend coinciding with her personality. Chloe hardly ever saw Max, though, her wife either about to go to bed or already asleep by time her shift at either job would be over.

"I… I miss _us_ ," Chloe admitted reluctantly, repositioning herself so she could lean her head on Max's shoulder, "I miss road trips, your selfies… Remember when we drove to Big Sur after _that_."

Chloe's use of the word _"that"_ sent a shiver up and down Max's spine; she knew Chloe was trying to think of better times but mentioning the near-total destruction of Arcadia Bay couldn't be avoided. Leaning her head onto Chloe's, Max intertwined her black-nailed fingers with Chloe's blue-nailed ones and stared at the hands. Lost in thought, Max remembered the first time they'd held hands after getting out of the wreckage of their childhood hometown.

* * *

" _Max, you awake?" Chloe had asked, both girls squeezing onto the bench seat of Chloe's truck. Pulled into a rest-stop along a length of coastal highway, Max had spent hours alone that day on the beach. Sitting in the sand, fully-dressed, Max had her knees to her chest and watched Chloe mess around in the water in nothing but boxers and a bra._ She's shutting down, _Chloe thought as she would glance over at Max every now and then,_ She's going to be even more withdrawn if I don't do something. Just what the fuck am I supposed to do? How do you console someone who hella gave Fate the middle finger for her…

 _That was the question Chloe had been asking herself for the past two days: Where were she and Max? Friends? Something more? Sure, she'd dared Max to kiss her but when the little hipster did Chloe responded with shock and smart-ass jokes._ I should've taken it seriously _, Chloe thought as she waded around, stopping to look straight at Max._

" _Fuck it," Chloe said to herself, sliding in the truck seat so she could sit up, "Hey. Max, wake up."_

" _Nnh, wha_ _…_ _? Chloe," Max said, the dark circles under her eyes even more pronounced as she wrapped her arms around Chloe tightly, "C-Chloe_ _…_ _"_

" _The nightmare again?" Chloe asked, Max's only reply being a single nod as she buried her face into Chloe's t-shirt, "Max, what are we doing?"  
_

"… _I don't understand," Max yawned the words out, moving so that they were sitting on opposite sides of the truck's bench seat, "My parents are worried, yeah, but they understand we both need time. Even after you heard from Joyce and David, they also-"_

" _Do you like me?"_

"… _W-What_ _…_ _?"_

 _Chloe chomped down on her bottom lip and let out a sigh of weary frustration._ Just fucking ask her already, Price. God, you're a hella bigger chickenshit than Max, and Max saved you. From everything. _Taking off her beanie, Chloe wiped at her face and looked at Max more directly before asking what came next._

" _Do you love me, Max?" Chloe asked, her voice nearly breaking toward the end._

"… _Yes_ _…_ _," Max's answer was barely a whisper, so Chloe didn't quite hear the other girl's response._

" _What?"_

" _I_ _…_ _I love you, Chloe," Max's voice was suddenly very resolute, taking Chloe by surprise as she continued, "I've gone through so much._ We've _been through so much. Even when you tried to offer yourself up_ _…_ _Chloe, the idea of you not being in my life, here with me_ now _, is too much. I_ _…_ _I really do love you. Wowser_ _…_ _"_

 _Sliding over to where Max had been sitting, Chloe slid a hand up to Max's and intertwined their fingers._

" _I told you. I'll be with you forever," the smile on Chloe's face got a reluctant one onto Max's, the first genuine smile Chloe had seen from her companion in days, "Dude, we need to go to Big Sur and chill. You, me, and just some quality time. We've got the funds, so why the fuck not?"_

"… _You're right," Max said, squeezing Chloe's hand as tears rolled down her eyes, "I_ _…_ _Why the fuck not?"_

* * *

"Well then," Max asked, snapping Chloe out of a memory she knew they were likely sharing as they sat in their apartment, "What do _you_ want to do?"

"Hmm," Chloe got up and offered Max a hand up before walking over to the coffee machine. Setting everything up, Chloe listened to the gurgling noise the small appliance made before turning around to lean against the counter, "If Ellie wants a picnic and I want a beach then why not both? Matthews Beach Park on 93rd is pretty chill, and it's not supposed to be nasty out today."

"…And I'll take the whole weekend off next time," Max said, walking over to slide her arms around Chloe's waist. Standing on her tip-toes, she gave her wife several little pecks on the lips, "Just you and me. Kate and Tori have been wanting to spend time with Ellie. I'm sure they'd love to watch her for the weekend."

"I knew there was a reason I married your hipster ass," Chloe said, smiling as she returned Max's kisses with her own, "That, and you're kinda hot in the sack."

" _Kinda_?"

"Hella."

 **Author's Note -**

 **This is the first part of a story I felt needed to be done after Polarized. Tumblr artist Gaberoid did a piece for me of Ellie walking hand in hand with Max and Chloe in a park and the idea kinda sprung out of that. I just want those girls to be happy 3**

 **Read and review, please! More coming soon!**

 **Stay Hella, Cinnamon Rolls!**


	2. Chapter 2

**"Grow Old With Me" by John Lennon**

The Sun beating down on them as they climbed out of Max's SUV, the Price-Caulfields collected the picnic basket, cooler, and blanket for their Sunday picnic at Matthews Beach Park and gaped at the number of people also outside.

"Huh," Max said, dressed in her black and pink plaid sundress with a tropical sun hat and heeled Chuck Taylors, "Guess it wasn't just us, my little lime."

"Boooo," Ellie said, her narrowed eyes peeking over the picnic blanket she was carrying with both hands. Dressed in a t-shirt and shorts like Momma, Ellie tilted her head enough to stick her tongue out, "Butts!"

"Ellie…," Max's warning tone failed to match the smirk on her face, eyes rolling when Chloe looked over at her with a knowing grin, "Yeah, yeah. Genetics, Chloe. Doesn't explain where she gets all of _you_ from, though."

"Osmosis," Chloe chimed in, smiling cheerfully in her tank-top, short-shorts, and beanie, "Simply by coming into contact with me you become more awesome."

"Or _silly_ ," Max retorted, smiling down at her giggling daughter, Ellie mumbling about how her mommies were sillies together, " _May_ be we should just go home…"

"Wha…? _No_ ," Ellie said with a huff, Max winking at Chloe who flashed her an impish grin and wink of her own.

"It _is_ hella crowded. We could always try again _next Sunday_ …," Chloe teased Ellie, looking down with a smile only for it to turn into a worried frown as Ellie began to cry. Setting their things down, both Max and Chloe knelt in front of their sobbing daughter and held her in a group hug, "Okay, tiny, okay. We'll stay. No more waterworks?"

"Okay!" Ellie said, her demeanor completely changed as she grinned and picked the blanket back up. Watching their daughter descend the steps from the parking lot to the park itself, Max and Chloe snapped out of their momentary spacing out and quickly followed.

"She hella played us," Chloe said flatly as Max chuckled, "What? What's so funny?"

"…Where do you think she gets _that_ from?" Max asked, laughing when Chloe's frown deepened into a scowl.

"Shaddup, hippie! That's likely as much from you as it is from me. _I_ never huffed when we were kids, so that's _all_ Caulfield."

Max nearly huffed in response but managed to keep herself under control, having elected to snicker instead. _She's totally right, of course. That bit is me, but the waterworks are both of us._ Slipping her arms through the picnic basket's handles, Max walked alongside Chloe as she carried their small cooler. Having managed to find a spot under one of the shade trees, Max and Ellie laid out the blanket while Chloe began to unpack the sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and drinks they had put together. Chloe cracked open her beer and sipped at the stout as Max munched on a sandwich with Ellie drinking her Capri Sun. Her bob cut fluttering in the breeze, Ellie reminded Chloe of her wife so much sometimes that she found herself blushing whenever the little girl would smile up at her. _The freckles, the way her nose scrunches up when she_ really _smiles¸_ Chloe thought, _She really is a miniature Max Caulfield. I'm in there, but not as much as you are, Maxaroni._ Setting her beer down, Chloe slid an arm around Max's waist and warmed to the wry smile forming on her wife's face.

"Hey," Chloe said, nuzzling Max's neck.

"Hey yourself," Max replied, kissing her wife, "Still iffy about doing this?"

"…Not so much iffy as wishing we had it all to ourselves," Chloe admitted, looking over at Eloise, "Right, pipsqueak? A beach just for us?"

"Ye!" Ellie raised her arms in exclamation to her cry, a trickle of her lemon-lime beverage running down her chin as she grinned at her mothers, "Mommies, can I go play now?"

"Eloise, you need to eat first," Max said in a humored tone, "Mommy made your favorite sammich, after all…"

Max and Chloe both had to stop themselves from laughing as Ellie's eyes widened and she crawled over hurriedly to snatch her sandwich from the basket. Holding it up like a treasure, Ellie looked at Max and then Chloe before resting her eyes back on the wrapped sandwich.

"But… But it's a dessert sammich. Momma, you said-"

"I know, little dude," Chloe said with a smile as she leaned over to lift Ellie up and place her between Max and herself, "It's a Sunday, though, so I'll allow it. Hella cool?"

"Hewwah ye!" Ellie exclaimed as she unwrapped the peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich, giggling in delight as she spotted the added chocolate syrup, "Momma! Mommy put _choc'late_ in it!"

"Mommy's cool like that," Max said, nodding smugly.

"Mommy's th' coolest!" Ellie said in agreement, Chloe pouting as she gave Ellie a wounded look, "Momma's cool, too! You are!"

"Gee, thanks," Chloe said with a sardonic look on her face before she laid back in the grass, "I got first watch if you wanna go swim or whatever, wife o' mine."

Leaning over to kiss Chloe, Max gave her wife the slightest bit of tongue before getting to her feet, kicking off her shoes and putting her hat on Ellie's head, Max slid out of her sundress to reveal the two-piece black bikini she had been wearing underneath. Smiling to herself as she heard Chloe choke on her beer, Max sauntered out toward the water and dove in. The brisk water livened her up, gave Max a shot of adrenaline that was sorely needed after the exhaustion of her week. _I really need this._ We _really need this,_ Max thought to herself as surfaced only to dive back in, _Chloe's right. She's an ass about it sometimes, but she's right_ _–_ _I overwork and miss out on_ us _. Not just the three of us as a family, but as a couple. Kate and Tori would gladly take Ellie for a weekend if we asked, let her get better acquainted with their little Lisbeth._ Max surfaced again and backstroked until she was far enough out that Chloe and Ellie were two pinhead-sized dots of green and blue. The hair color of her wife and daughter made her snort as Max thought of how she'd worn pink on and off for years.

"Maybe I could make a more permanent change," the thought having crossed Max's mind before as she spoke it aloud, "I mean, it wouldn't be _permanent_ because I'd have to re-dye it… Still, it'd be hella cool and hilariballs for the three of us to show up in places with all of our hair dyed."

Max swam for another hour, putting her body to work as the lean muscle moved smoothly in and out of the water in a variety of swimming styles. Daring herself as the last thing to do before she let Chloe have some fun, Max dove as far down as she could and shivered at how cold the water was the deeper she swam. Smiling, Max liked the icy feeling of her skin and swam back up, the coolness and air giving her a feeling of exhilaration.

"Mommy!" Max turned to hear Ellie yelling for her from their picnic spot, and laughed at the sight of her daughter.

Wearing Max's old hoodie and Jane t-shirt, they were big enough on Ellie that they could be parts of a dress. Eloise's face was what drew the most giggle fits from Max as she approach, however; a ring of strawberry ice cream surrounded her daughter's face, the stickiness of the drying dessert making Ellie look like a miniature clown as she walked toward the sand where Max was headed. Appreciatively taking the proffered towel, Max dried her hair and looked down at her daughter in amusement. _Of course, Chloe. Of course you just_ can't _be the second-coolest of the two of us. Fucking cheater._

"Momma got you ice cream, huh?" Max knelt down in front of Ellie, using the damp towel to wipe the ice cream from her daughter's face, "Hold still, Mini-Me. Momma give you those clothes, too?" _What the hell are you up to, Chlo?_

"… _Wowser!_ " Ellie cried out, raising her arms over her head as though in triumph as she grinned sweetly at her mother, "Mommy's gotta say 'Wowser' to get her ice cream!"

"I-I… _What_ …?" Max asked, brows knitted as she looked over Ellie's head as her wife approached, "I see how it is, Chlo. I see what you're doing here. _No._ "

"D'aww, c'mon," Chloe brought out from behind her back a waffle cone with melting mint chocolate-chip ice cream, "I hella got you this, Max-a-roon. You just… I mean, _c'mon_."

"Chloe, it is bad enough what she picks up from us already," Max said, a little more sternly than she had meant to, "But _that_? You had to tell her _that_? Sure, it was okay when I was younger-"

"It was totally nerdy-"

"I'm not eighteen anymore, Chloe," Max said with a sigh as she had caught sight of Ellie's trembling lip, "Even you, Ellie? Ugh, you really wanna hear Mommy say that word?"

"Uh-huh," Max's sighed again at how cute her daughter was as she held her arm the way Max had when she wore that hoodie. _You are both traitors. I love you, but you're traitors._

"…Wowser…"

"No, Mommy! You gotta do the way you did it!" Ellie tugged on the hem of Max's sundress as she slipped back into it, "You _gotta_!"

"Yeah, Mommy's gotta-" Chloe cut herself off at the look on Max's face, "Um…"

" _Wowser_ ," Max said, internally rolling her eyes at having to do an impression of herself, "Are you _for cereal_?"

"Ye!" Ellie cheered, Max picking her up to carry her, "Mommy's number one!"

"Ha!" Max cried out in triumph, eyeing a scowling Chloe as she took the waffle cone with her free hand, "Your ice cream cannot save you now!"

"…You're both jerks," Chloe mumbled, sticking her tongue out before leaning in close to Max, "You're not… You're not mad, are you? It was just a joke-"

"You owe me. Tonight," Max whispered into Chloe's ear, softly enough that she prayed Ellie didn't hear anything.

"Um, what do I-?"

"I'm breaking into the bottom shelf. Teach you some manners, Price, _you fucking egg,_ " Max licked Chloe's earlobe before pulling away to take a bite of her ice cream cone, "Go. Swim. Or don't. Mommy and Ellie are gonna go take pictures!"

"Oh! _Really_?" Ellie's face lit up as Max sat her back on the beach, the little girl already running to get her small camera bag. Chloe sidled up next to Max and slipped an arm around her wife's waist

"I love you, Max," Chloe said, all sarcasm and playfulness absent from her voice, "Look. Look at what we have. We… We have the best daughter in the world, dude, and I have the most hella epic wife _ever_."

"I love you too, Chloe," Max stood on her tip-toes to kiss Chloe on the cheek, nuzzling her wife's neck, "I wish that every day could be like this. You, Ellie, and me just going wherever and doing whatever as a family. I miss this, and I miss _us_."

"Hence tonight?"

"Bet your ass, 'hence tonight'. You might want to actually swim and get some cardio in," Max teased, bending down to catch a running and giggling Ellie, " _Gotcha_!"

Max and Ellie walked around the beach, Ellie with a handful of Max's sundress, taking pictures of various beachgoers and activities. Volleyball, children on the jungle gym, swimmers splashing each other; Max and Ellie caught all of it, Max checking Ellie's shots instinctively as a professional photographer. Half an hour into their little session, Max heard approaching footsteps and looked over her shoulder to see a dripping Chloe following them, dressed in her own azure bikini and sarong.

"What can I say?" Chloe asked, shrugging her shoulders as she leaned in to hug her wife and daughter, "I missed my family."

"We missed you, too."

 **Author's Note -**

 **Short, sweet, and a nice bit of fluff.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it - now that the move is finished, I'm hoping I'll be able to write more often. :)**

 **Stay Hella, Cinnamon Rolls!**


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